Sahir Ludhianvi biopic in trouble

Amrita Pritam’s grandson sends a legal notice to the producers of the Irrfan-starrer that is based on Sahir Ludhianvi’s life

In May last year, producer Ashi Dua and director Jasmeet Reen approached the celebrated poetess Amrita Pritam’s partner Imroze and her grandson Aman Kwatra to take permission to replay her life-story on celluloid. For the uninitiated, Amrita Pritam had a tumultuous love relationship with well-known poet and lyricist, Sahir Ludhianvi; she has even spoken about this relationship in her autobiography.

Amrita Pritam and her grandson Aman Kwatra and (left) Irrfan

However, Amrita Pritam’s family members were not happy about this love story being made into a film and they turned down the proposal. Aman, along with his sister Shilpi, met the filmmakers, but refused to give permission for the film, as they wanted to respect their grandmother’s wish of not turning her story into a movie.

So when the filmmakers went ahead and announced the project, Pritam’s family was aghast. In November, they sent legal notices to the producer and director to stop them from making the film; they didn’t get any reply. But now that Irrfan has been signed on to play Ludhianvi’s role and Priyanka Chopra is slated to play Pritam, her family has once again sent a legal notice to the makers.

Aman Kwatra says that the family is disturbed by it all. “My grandma led a simple life. She didn’t want any commercial film to be made on her life. We are disheartened that Dua is going ahead without our permission. We hold the rights to her autobiography too. How can they go ahead then? Imrozji is hurt by this.

We don’t want her life to be commercialised; we want her life to be seen through the beauty of her own writing. Since Sahirji had no children, I guess there is no one to object from his side, but we will continue the fight,” he says.